The IV Special Security Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar has allowed the intervention, since the beginning of the year and until November, of a total of 268,149 kilos of drugsas part of 3,195 operations and investigations carried out by the National Police and the … Civil Guard, with international collaboration. These actions also resulted in 4,250 arrests, the seizure of 641 firearms, 755,794 liters of fuel979 means of transport and nine drones used in illicit activities.
Of the total substances seized, 190,528 kilos correspond to hashish, which represents more than 70% of the total. Along with this, highlights increase in cocaine usewith 2,000 kilos more confiscated than the previous year, as well as the increase in seizures of fuel, intended to supply ships used by criminal networks. These data were presented at the meeting of the Operational Coordination Table (MECO), held this Wednesday in Almería and chaired by the government delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández.
Fernández highlighted the constant effort of agents to confront criminal organizations that are “increasingly dynamic, technologically prepared and highly specializedwith international ramifications. In this context, he stressed that this criminal evolution requires the development of strategic lines of action focused on strengthening human resources, providing material and technological means and strengthening coordination between all police and judicial operators, in order to adapt to new challenges and the experience accumulated during more than five years of combating this complex phenomenon.
The government delegate in Andalusia warned against the casuistry of criminal groups, “who recruit increasingly violent young people to quickly climb the ladder of the criminal organization”, so that “the solution does not depend exclusively on police intervention, but it is essential to eliminate the social base that supports them in certain territories and that causes the normalization of criminal activity. attack drug trafficking structures on a global scale and, for this, police action must be complemented by social measures that give the local population a dignified exit, which does not make drug trafficking attractive”, a task which, he recalled, “is the responsibility of the Junta de Andalucía, which must become more involved and abandon the dominant position that it maintains until now”.
“They recruit increasingly violent young people to quickly climb the ranks of criminal organizations”
Pedro Fernández
Government Delegate in Andalusia
Likewise, he stressed that the clans integrate within their structures specialized professionals from different fields, such as experts in money laundering, IT or in piloting fast boats. This development requires state security forces and organs to adapt to new criminal dynamics through specific action plans. In this sense, he cited the plans aimed at combating drug trafficking in the area of the Guadalquivir and Guadiana rivers, as well as the devices deployed on the Costa del Sol, “all with an operational design adapted to the particularities of each scenario”.
Cross-border operations
Within the Civil Guard, cross-border cooperation with the Huelva command is constantly maintained, particularly in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. In this context, in November, Operation “Diana” was carried out in the municipalities of Punta Umbría, Cartaya, Lepe, Ayamonte, Villanueva de los Castillejos, Villablanca, Sanlúcar del Guadiana, Palos de la Frontera and Moguer, as well as in different areas of the Portuguese Algarve. This action was a hard blow for maritime transport logistics infrastructure of criminal organizations, both with regard to boats and the supply of fuel and food. The results of the operation include more than 200 boat checks, the identification of more than 900 people and 400 boats, as well as the arrest of 14 people, the seizure of more than 1,500 kilos of hashish, 36 boats, 13 vehicles and 36,800 liters of fuel.
For its part, in collaboration with the National Police, Operation Chicken, carried out at the end of September in Jerez de la Frontera as part of the Tarteso Plan, allowed the dismantling of a daycare for drug addictsto which the caches arrived in inflatable boats from the mouth of the Guadalete River. The action resulted in two arrests, the seizure of 3,800 kilos of drugs and two AK-47 type long weapons.
Regarding confrontations with agents, Pedro Fernández indicated that there has been no increase in the number of attacks between January and November. “In 2018, the year the plan began, there were ten incidents, while this year there were eight,” he said, stressing that it is the second year with the lowest number of violent incidents against the National Police.
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